Raise, a company supported by PayPal that specializes in digital gift cards and loyalty programs, has raised a $ 63 million round directed by Haun Ventures. The round takes Rous’s total financing to more than $ 220 million.
Other participants included Amber Group, Anagram and GSR, among others, according to a press release. The Chicago -based company will use the funds to develop its smart cards backed by blockchain and expand the Retail Alliance Foundation, a non -profit organization focused on ensuring and modernizing the global network of gift cards.
The company aims to make the gift cards a “totally programmable retail currency” that strengthens the loyalty of the brand. “This is not a reaction to market trends: it is the result of years of investment, research and infrastructure construction to give life to a programmable retail currency totally in chain,” said the founder and CEO of the George Bousis platform to Coindesk.
“The cryptographic industry needs a real utility now more than ever. Investors are a substance of demand on speculation, and consumers are tired of broken promises, ”added Bousis.
“We have spent more than a decade exploring how Blockchain can boost real world change in the multimillion -dollar gift card industry.”
Together with the financing round, the company announced a new board of directors with Marco Santori, former Kraken Clo; George Ruan, co -founder of Honey; Matt Maloney, founder of Grubhub; and Bjorn Wagner, CEO of Parity Technologies. His experience covers Fintech, Crypto and E-Commerce.
